My Jungle Memoirs 4. Amazonian Lifestyle

I choose our tour operator in the jungle because it was owned by local families and because it remains in good relationships with communities living I the forest. I was hoping to visit some of them. When I mentioned my wish to our guide, he reluctantly accepted. The next morning we went to visit two families living not far away from our camp.

In the Amazon Basin, at least in Bolivia, people usually don't construct villages; they live in one or two-family households scattered in the forest, always close to a water source. After a short boat ride we arrived at the first household. Now, one thing has to be told about our guide. He is absolutely incredible in the forest, spotting wildlife, imitating animal voices, knowing about all kinds of plants. But he severely lacks communication skills outside the forest. Interactions with other human beings seemed to be kind of a punishment for him. When we arrived at the first house there was only one lady present. I discovered that our visit was not organized in any way. We just "dropped by" at her household. Our guide encouraged us to talk to the lady and then he sat down on a bench and focused on contemplating the view.

We started talking to the lady and she was nice enough and fortunately spoke Spanish, but she limited herself to politely answering our questions without venturing any questions or providing additional explanations on her own. At least she didn't seem bothered by our presence. After some fifteen minutes we ran out of questions. Our guide asked us if we wanted to walk further to meet another family. He seemed very disappointed when we enthusiastically agreed...

In the second households our experience was quite different. We were lucky to find quite a few members of the family at home, including a lot of children running around. The guy who was the head of the family proved to be extremely enthusiastic about living in the jungle. We had a great long conversation with him, he showed us around the household, where every single plant served some purpose. He told us how different plants help to prevent illnesses or heal diseases, he showed us a natural mosquito repellent (palm tree heart smoking slowly inside an abandoned termite nest). We talked a lot with the whole family about lifestyles in the city and in the forest and about daily occupations in their household. Then they decided to let us try peeling the rice and as a goodbye gift I received some grass and leaves that would make an excellent herbal drink.

Ironically, the fact that our visit was completely unstaged (and, lets be honest, completely unprepared) made it such an exceptional experience. I didn't feel that I was intruding on anybody; it was simply the exchange of information for the benefit of people who were very interested about life in the jungle. So I suppose that I should be grateful to our guide after all: if he had prepared and organized our visit better, I would not have gotten such an authentic and exciting experience!

My Jungle Memoirs 3. Jungle Walks

Walking in the jungle is very different from other kinds of trekking. It is usually not that important to get from point A to B. It is much more crucial what one sees on the way. Sometimes one can walk twice the same path and still see very different things.

Walking in Madidi Park allowed me to feel a little bit like a hunter (without being forced to put bullets through animals). We followed our guide closely and tried to be as quiet as possible. This proved to be a challenge for Marc, especially if we didn't talk for more than half an hour! We walked slowly and our guide was looking around and stopping to listen to the sounds of animals every now and then.

At some point the guide would stop, tell us to be very quiet, and motion us to come closer. Then he would whisper the name of the animal he spotted. Sometimes it was a toucan or a paradise bird or different sorts of monkeys or something still different. Sometimes the animal would escape before we could see it. But other times we were rewarded with views on all kinds of interesting creatures.

Funnily enough, my best experience was with spotting wild pigs. Now, there is nothing exotic about them but the experience still gave me a lot of thrill. Our guide heard wild pigs but honestly, I don't know how he did it. The jungle is NEVER quiet. All sorts of insects and birds and animals create a relentless concert day and night. And yet our guide was able to make sense of it. He was able to tell us how many of the pigs he had heard, how many of them and how far they were. However, Marc and I were barely able to recognize the noise and there was no question of seeing the animals. Then, finally, our guide stopped us once, told us to get down and listen. This time even I didn't have doubts, the noise was unmistakable. First we could only see some leaves moving at a distance. The guide told us to stay still and the pigs would walk in front of us. After a few minutes the noises became louder. They were coming from all around us. We were surrounded. And then, surely enough, the wild pigs started a parade directly in front of us. If we were Asterix and Obelix we couldn't have had an easier job :-)

Some animals are extremely hard to see in the jungle. But one day after heavy rain our guide showed us numerous fresh tracks of different animals, among them the leopard and the tapir. Seeing how easy it is to find them (at least for the guide...) made us realize that the Madidi National Park truly is truly rich with wildlife.

My Jungle Memoirs 2. My first encounter with the jungle

From Rurrenabaque we took a three-day tour in the Madidi Park, right in the jungle and away from towns and villages. At the first glance, I was surprised to find the forest much more innocent-looking than I had expected. We walked among all shades of greenery, with some beautiful flowers and hundreds of butterflies flying around us (I felt as if I was visiting the butterfly conservatory in Niagara). The birds were singing and I was amused at the sight of a garlic tree, which one can smell from meters away, or learning about the only edible mushroom in the jungle: chicken breast mushroom. Apparently a soup made from the stuff tastes exactly like chicken soup.

When I looked closer at the trees I realized that a lot of them had many big and sharp spines on the trunk. Not at all innocent-looking, after all. Then I learned that the cute tiny caterpillar at my feet is in fact poisonous, and the beautiful little lagoons are full of bloodthirsty piranhas. And walking back to the lodge in the dark after dinner I almost stepped on a snake. Upon these and a few other incidents ( such as an encounter with an army of dangerous ants that destroy every living thing they encounter on their way), I was forced to revise my earlier impressions. The jungle might look innocent but nobody should be fooled by it.

For me, it was back to Australian drill: always watching the ground before stepping, NEVER walking in the dark without a flashlight, always shaking my shoes before putting them on, etc. However, after camping for two months in Australia I felt fearless and invincible. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I survived the encounter with the jungle and remained intact. I was never bitten by any poisonous reptile, and I wasn't eaten alive by the malicious ants. My Waterloo turned out to be the flying insects. I was bitten by all kids of them - sand flies (I never stayed in the sand), mosquitoes (I always used a mosquito repellent), wasps and all other kinds of other insects, the names of which I don't care to know. I may be itching like crazy and I may look like I had smallpox now but I proudly report that the insects didn't manage to ruin my experience - I would do it all over again!

My Jungle Memoirs 1. Welcome to Rurrenabaque

It didn't want to finish my year trip without an adventure in the jungle. I chose to go to the rainforest in the Amazon basin (if you want to do it, do it right!). The easiest (and cheapest) place to organize such a tour is in Rurrenabaque, a small town north of La Paz. And a few hours boat ride from Rurrenabaque is the Madidi National Park, one of the richest park in flora and fauna in the world.

In order to avoid a very long and bumpy bus ride, we took a plane from La Paz to Rurrenabaque. The cheapest tickets were sold by the TAM, the Bolivian military airline. Two armed soldiers checked our taxi driver's documents at the entry to the military airport. However, once we got to the terminal, it all looked surprisingly informal. The terminal reminded me more of a small local bus station, and the check-in was only about looking at our tickets and weighting the luggage. No security control whatsoever, no rules about taking liquids on board. When the plane was ready, we all just casually walked out of the terminal to board our ride.

It was a no-frill tiny plane and I can only hope that TAM does a better job maintaining the engine than the interior. But the flight itself was spectacular. The flight started among white-capped mountains at 4000 meters above sea-level and then descended through highlands all the way to the jungle. Seeing the rainforest from above really gave me an idea of the size of the Amazon basin. It was forest as far as I could see.

The airport in Rurrenabaque was even more casual than the one in La Paz. The plane landed on an asphalt strip (finished a year ago) but then it just turned left directly on the grass and after a few minutes it arrived at a small house surrounded by trees. Welcome to the Rurrenabaque airport!

Gadget technology takes over the world

There is a strange phenomenon happening in the developing world. In poor countries two parallel realities coexist, two realities that should not exist at the same time in developing nations. I am referring to gadget technology and poverty.

Nowadays we feel more and more that technology makes us complete. Possessing the latest electronic gadget is our passport to happiness. 15 years ago people changed home phones every ten years; today people switch mobile phones once every year. And still people complain that they can’t get their hands quickly enough on the latest phones. Citizens of the developed world can afford these expensive gadgets because the governments have met the basics needs of its citizens: most have access to clean running water, cities have sewage treatment facilities and trash collection services, among others.

In some of the poorest countries we visited this year, countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Bolivia, access to gadget technology is about the same as in the Western world. That in itself is not a problem. However, basic sanitary services, those that can improve the life of the greater majority, are often nonexistent.

Uyuni in Bolivia is a good example of this paradox. The city has only a few paved streets. There is no access to clean water, no sewage treatment facility, and no garbage collection service. Trash covers the ground for dozens of kilometers outside the town. We’ve seen the locals chalk their trash directly on the streets. The wind does the rest.

As the environment chokes under this plastic assault, shops containing the latest TV flicks, the latest Iphones, and the latest computers mushroom everywhere in town. In Potosi I walked with a dirty plastic bag for a few kilometers until I could find a trashcan. But I passed dozen of electronic gadget shops on the way to find an elusive trashcan. I sure knew where I could buy a Nokia phone but I couldn’t find a single trashcan. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

Please understand me, I like technology. But I like technology even more when it serves useful purposes. And the developing world has an urgent need of technology that can serve useful purposes.

Now who should we blame for this state of affair? Is the government to blame for failing to push down essential priorities to a deprived citizenry? Or are the citizens to blame for failing to understand that clean water ranks higher, much higher than owning a mobile phone in indices of the Human Development Reports?

Governments need to be able to collect taxes to pay for basic sanitary services (there is such a dearth of public toilets in Bolivia that men routinely pee against buildings on the street, and in broad daylight too), and Bolivia is notorious for lacking stable government revenues due to tax evasion. Of course more taxes means less discretionary spending on gadgets. Taxpayer-paid public toilets and sewage treatment facilities or mobile phones and flat-screen TVs for the populace? For some it is a hard choice. For others it is a no-brainer.

There is such a thing as putting the cart before the horse. In this case the cart is way ahead of the horse. At least two hundreds meters in front of it.

The irony is that I come from a country whose mining companies have taken heavy flak for polluting the environment in poor countries. Before I started this long trip I used to blame multinationals for holding the locals hostage and destroying their environment.

Well this trip has been an eye opener. I have realized that true, multinationals have done considerable damage to the environment in poor nations. But they are not alone.

No mining company in Uyuni has forced the locals to chalk their trash in the wild. There is no mining company responsible for the decision behind Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, to dump its raw sewage directly in Rio Choqueyapu, a river that flows into the Amazon basin. Likewise it is not Barrick Gold’s fault that I couldn’t see a single trash can in the centre of Potosi as I tried to find a resting place for a dirty plastic bag. It is not Newmont Mining’s fault that ballooning revenues from tourism have not been used to create the basic infrastructure that Bolivians need. No, multinationals are not to blame for the awful state of the environment in Bolivian cities. Bolivians alone are to blame for this mess.

It should come as no surprise if I told you that there was an outbreak of cholera in La Paz a few years ago. After all more than 200 000 tons of raw sewage is dumped annually in Rio Choqueyapu, and that’s not counting the industrial chemicals being dumped in the river as well. No, mining companies are not to blame. Poor local governance and terrible priorities can explain this mess.

However, the skyrocketing number of gadget shops tells me that connectivity is more important than basic sanitary services. I guess the prospect of living in a cholera infested city is not a strong enough reason to revisit basic priorities.

A UN report indicated last year that far more Indians have access to cell phones than a toilet and basic sanitation in India. According to the same report one billion Indians will be connected to a network by 2015 while a staggering 665 million Indians still defecate in the open.

“Wait. I heard that the next generation of IPhone will be released shortly. Quick, let’s cue in front of the store before the first batch sells out.”

Expect more misery, more cholera outbreaks in some of the poorest cities of this world.

New pictures uploaded

I've uploaded the pictures from Cochabamba and Torotoro Nacional Parque.

Hope you enjoy.

To view the pictures in the correct order, please click on "View My Gallery" under the thumbnails, select the desired album and click on the first picture.

Don`t Discard Cochabamba!

Cochabamba is the third largest city in Bolivia and it is called the city of the eternal spring, due to its mild and pleasurable climate. However, most of the guidebooks and a lot of people I talked to recommended we stay in this city only as long as we absolutely needed to because there was nothing to see there.

It is true: Cochabamba doesn't have the beautiful architecture of Sucre or the museums of La Paz. But it doesn't mean that it is not worth it to stopover for a few days between these two cities. I found Cochabamba much more "real" than Sucre. Lets be honest, in Sucre I didn’t feel as if I was in Bolivia at all. In Cochabamba I could see people walk to and from work. I could see students reading in cafes (Cochabamba is home to the biggest university in Bolivia). I could see families relax together. I felt as if I was in the middle of Real Bolivian lives, not in too picture perfect Sucre.

And Cochabamba won me over with the number of restaurants, cafes and ice-cream shops all over the place. Maybe it is not outstanding in the traditional tourist sense; maybe there are no sightseeing highlights to check off on the must-see list. However, it is a city where I can really see the lives of the Bolivian middle class and where the atmosphere is filled with a contagious joie de vivre.

Here’s my suggestion for those who are short on time in Bolivia: visit all the museums in La Paz but don’t spend too much time in the capital. Rather, come to Cochabamba to see what it means to enjoy your life à la Boliviano.

Torotoro, a paleontological wonderland

There is no easy way to get to Torotoro (see my other post). The village of Torotoro is not special in itself and is surely not the reason why we choose to travel to Torotoro. When we arrived at night we felt a bit of despair when we realized that our contact to our hotel El Molino had not been informed of our arrival, and that we were stuck in the middle of the night with no idea where to find a hotel room in the village.

We asked the lady at the transport office to direct us to a good hostel. She signaled her own residence which had rooms to offer.

What a terrible place it turned out to be. After our infamous hostel in Singapore we promised ourselves we wouldn’t ever stay in another s****hole, but “Los Chocos” in Torotoro managed to beat our accommodation in Singapore. Ania will have more details in her monthly summary.

There are four possible trekking circuits around Torotoro. Tourists are not allowed outside the village without a guide (milk ‘em), but the price is reasonable at least and the guides are generally knowledgeable.

The attractions outside of Torotoro are extremely interesting, especially for those interested in paleontology. In fact the village of Torotoro is surrounded by dinosaur footprints and its mountains contain an inordinate amount of prehistoric fossils. Torotoro is surely one of the best places on earth to see dinosaur footprints. Trekkers can also enjoy a beautiful walk down a canyon with crystal-clear groundwater cascading down.

Our first trek brought us high in the mountains surrounding Torotoro where we discovered a mountain of earth filled with fossils. There were so many fossils that we were literally walking on them as we explored the site. We saw countless fossils of prehistoric plants and amphibian creatures. Solid rocks were peppered with unicellular organisms (I'll upload the pictures shortly).

Our second trek brought us closer to the dinosaurs, where we saw dozens of well-defined footprints of carnivorous as well as herbivorous dinosaurs. Our guide showed us footprints of a dinosaur family heading in the same direction. When we saw the massive footprints of the brontosaurus, we were blown away. We were actually at the site where the gigantic animals once tread. That was a truly great moment.

Now it should have been a perfect tour but it wasn’t. My main criticism is exactly the same I had in Tilcara ruins in Northern Argentina: conservation.

Guides in Bolivia tend to know a lot about dinosaur footprints and can easily recognize footprint patterns and give information about the creatures. That’s all fine.

My main concern is that if guides are trained to recognize dinosaur footprints, they are absolutely clueless about conservation. And that, in itself, is a big problem. Take for example our excellent guide during our hike outside of Sucre, Enri. When we arrived at the site of the dinosaur footprints, he showed the tourists what great pictures we could take by putting our feet right where the dinosaurs used to tread. Ohh that picture makes a great souvenir, no doubt, but it is a terrible move that can speed up erosion greatly (all guides talk about the erosion effects of rain on footprints – well, let me tell you that walking on any of these footprints is much worse than rain). Of course most tourists did exactly what our guide advised them to do and stepped right in the footprints.

Our guide Emilio In Torotoro knew many things about his beloved dinosaurs, but he failed the conservation test as well. He showed us a trick guides like to pull with tourists. The trick goes like this: The last guide always covers in sand one amazing fossil (claw of dinosaur) after he is done with his group. Then, the next guide shows up and goes to the fragile dinosaur claw (covered in sand) and washes out the sand with his bare hands, to the “Ohhs!” and “Wows!” of tourists. Well I was amazed no doubt but for a different reason: amazed at how quickly this wonder will disappear if guides keep on doing this.

There is no doubt in my mind that distant generations won’t be able to see many of these footprints unless immediate action is taken. Bolivia no doubt needs help in managing and conserving its prehistoric sites. International organizations would be more than happy to provide Bolivia with much-needed funding and training. But like everything else in Bolivia nowadays, it seems that the ruler, Evo Morales, has a serious disdain for outside help.

That’s too bad because not only Bolivians, but the rest of the world as well, stand to lose if the wonders of Torotoro disappear from the surface of the earth.

Cheaper is not always better

There are only two ways one can get to Torotoro Nacional Parque (I’ll have more on Torotoro in the next post): the expensive way (tours leaving from Cochabamba) or the cheap way (public bus).

Now the price tag for leaving from Cochabamba on a hassle-free organized tour to Torotoro is about 350$ US for two nights, including food and a guide. Now many of you may think that 350$ isn’t that much money. That sum is all fine and well for those traveling for three weeks. Unfortunately budget constraints are real for those of us who are traveling for a year.

Ania and I did the math and realized that we can save a lot of money by organizing each segment separately. The public bus to Torotoro costs 3$ per person. The hotel costs 36$ per night. A guide maybe 15$ per day. It was an easy choice. We opted to organize our trip to Torotoro by ourselves.

Was this a good decision?

Let me break the suspense for you: the ride to Torotoro was the stinkiest, stuffiest, most inefficient, dangerous and crowded ride of my life.

We immediately realized that the ride was going to be long, very long (7 hours for 160 kilometers) when we arrived at the bus station. The locals from Torotoro essentially go to Cochabamba once a week to do their groceries. Dozen of heavy bags full of vegetables and even live animals stuffed in plastic bags (what a sad sight) were put in the cargo area and on the roof of the bus.

We got in the no-frills bus and so did everybody else. The problem is that the bus didn’t stop receiving passengers once the seats were full. At least 20 people crammed the aisle as well. Two guys who arrived late had to walk on seat armrests to reach their seats all the way at the back of the bus! The bus was so full that people standing up in the aisle had to lean on those of us who had aisle seats.

Of course none of this is legal. A short while after we left Cochabamba we arrived at a border crossing to Potosi. The driver yelled “get down!” in Spanish and Quechua and all the locals who were standing up in the aisle ducked down and stayed low until we cleared the border.

Our guide in Torotoro told us that it was a very dangerous affair, too. Accidents involving overweight and overcrowded buses are not uncommon in Bolivia. Also the fact that most of the ride took place near a precipice in a high mountainous area mean that accidents of this type leave passengers no chance. Here’s even more reason to dislike this ride.

Now I suggest that anybody interested in visiting Torotoro does NOT take this bus. Of course the more adventurous of our readers may see an exciting side to this story, coupled with the fact that the public bus is so much cheaper. But think again. You may be saving money by traveling with the locals, but saving your life is probably a better proposition.

Trekking pictures uploaded

I've uploaded the pictures from our trek around Sucre.

Enjoy.

To view the pictures in the correct order, please click on "View My Gallery" under the thumbnails, select the desired album and click on the first picture.

South and Central Bolivia Wrap-up

The Great : Sucre. Sucre is great for many, many reasons. It is a beautiful city filled with charm and with plenty of interesting activities to do. A special mention goes to Laguna Colorada as well. Seeing our first flamingoes on the red lake surrounded with snow-capped mountains was definitely a great moment in our trip.

The Hidden : Sucre is not recognized as a trekking destination but it should be. There are no 6000 meters mountains to climb but there is the Maragua Crater about 20 kilometers East of Sucre which is deep in Indigenous land. Ania and I trekked for four days and all we can say is “WOW”. Not only were we treated with spectacular landscapes, but the cultural aspect our trek was unparallel. We learned so much about indigenous culture during our trek. Don’t overlook Sucre if you intend to trek in Bolivia.

The Overrated : Tarambuco market. The Sunday market did not impress us by any stretch of the imagination. Tourists have made the market a hot spot in the last years, and the result is twofold: 1 – you’ll be harassed a lot by the locals 2 – the prices are Gringo’s prices at 1.5 or 2 times what they are in Sucre or Potosi. There is no reason to visit this market other than to see the locals walk around in some elaborate traditional dresses. As a market, Tarambuco is a failure.

The Ugly : Ania’s recurrent stomach problems. For some reasons Ania’s stomach hasn’t been happy in Bolivia. In fact her stomach has been acting strange since we visited the town of Salta in Northern Argentina. My poor, poor girl is sometimes in pain and we cannot pinpoint what food irritates her stomach. She is starting to look forward to wrapping-up this trip and going back home just so that her stomach finally gets better. And that, believe me, is scary. :)

In Bolivia non for profit - part II

The owner of our hostel in Sucre recommended to us a non-profit company organizing treks around town - Condortrekkers. We didn’t even know one could do trekking around Sucre, and we decided to check it out.

Condortrekkers was founded by an Australian a few years ago with the mission to develop tourism around Sucre, while at the same time ensuring that the communities around Sucre receive some benefits from the business. While the organization heavily relies on volunteers from around the world, the founder makes sure that volunteers are only there to support the guides. All the guides and some administrative staff are Bolivians, and the long term goal is to have the organization entirely run by locals.

Condortrekkers organizes great hikes in the region (more on that in the moment) but as I said it also ensures that the profits trickle down to the villages around town. For example the organization provides school supplies and sport equipment to the communities. Recently they visited the communities to give the children supplies of tooth brushes and tooth paste and conducted "tooth brushing workshops" for them. Apparently it was a lot of fun.

We went on a four-day trek with Condortrrekkers. It was a new experience for me because for the first time I was completely self-sufficient. We were carrying on our backs all the camping equipment, food for four days, water purifiers and even a "wild toilet set" (don't ask for details). Let's be honest - the backpacks were heavy, especially on the first day (Marc and I roughly evaluated that they weighed no less than our own backpacks, at 16 kilos).

The hike was beautiful. On our way we passed through ground with all possible colors, from yellow to purple. We saw some indigenous wall paintings a few thousands of years old. We walked through a crater. We saw real dinosaur footprints (it is a transcendent experience, bringing one back in time). We bathed in a waterfall (believe me, we needed that bath) and we culminated the whole experience in natural hotsprings on the last night of the trip.

All of that above was amazing. But what ensured that this trek was one of the best during our year-long trip, was the cultural experience. Our guide was absolutely fantastic and even managed to beat the great guide we had in Chile. We spent a lot of time talking to him about Bolivia, Canada, Poland, culture, history, politics, food, love and life in general. Actually, we got along with him much better than with our own group (ask Marc the details about our trek companions, if you want to hear him rant. Some highlights of his speech will include youngsters bringing a 1.5 liter whiskey bottle on the trek and then complaining that the backpack is too heavy :-) ).

Our guide was not only a delight to talk to, he was also our portal to the local communities. He seemed to know the inhabitants of all the villages we passed on the way. He stopped to talk to villagers and give them small gifts and he introduced us to many of them. It was a unique experience because indigenous Bolivians are not very willing to talk to strangers. And even if they were, most of them only speak Quechua anyway. Our guide even brought the whole group to visit his friend's house in one of the villages, where we were treated with chicha, a very sour alcoholic drink made from corn. It will not become my drink of choice but I'm definitely glad I tried!

And of course we made obligatory stops in the villages supported by Condortrekkers. It was quite a sight to see all the local children (usually very shy) run towards our guide and volunteers. We visited two schools, tried to learn some words in Quechua and, of course, played some soccer - the most universal way to bond with children around the world!

We walked about 15 to 18 km every day. We climbed over 1600 meters in altitude and descended over 2700 meters. And twice during breaks I chose to chase the ball instead of sitting down and resting. And believe me, I would do it all over again, even if I had to go with the same group (not so sure about Marc, though ;-)

In Bolivia not for profit - part 1

Bolivia is doubtless one of the poorest countries we visited this year (and one of the poorest in the world). But luckily for the country, it attracts a great number of international non-profit initiatives.

One of my favorite ones is ASUR - a project to revive traditional waving techniques. It started in the eighties with a couple of Chilean anthropologists who had a collection of old traditional weavings from around Sucre. When they came to the region, they realized that the weavings were no longer produced in the communities. The couple thought that reviving the art would be beneficial not only from an anthropological point of view but that it could also provide employment in the villages where opportunities for traditionally practiced agriculture were deteriorating. Long story short, the couple created an organization called ASUR, formed relationships with communities around Sucre and helped establishing the art of weaving traditional patterns.

It was hard at first because participants of the project were only able to produce very simple patterns. Young girls in the communities decided to try more elaborate and creative weavings. They sat together with their grandmothers, who still remembered how the weaving used to tell stories of everyday life and represent the system of believes practiced in the community. The combination of grandmothers’ memories and young girls’ skillful fingers led to the revival of an art that was almost completely lost.

Nowadays the weaving have once again become a living tradition. Although similar in style each weaving represents the interpretation of reality from the artist point of view. The traditional patterns are evolving to reflect the life of the community of today.

And interestingly enough, the business of weaving led to a division of labor in the villages. At first, weavers prepared their own wool and dyed it. Now some inhabitants specialize in preparing wool, some others' job is to dye it. The weavers only focus on weaving. In one village there is even a windmill set up to provide energy to facilitate some of the processes.

Marc and I wonder. The project started as the revival of ancient techniques and traditions. But it looks like it is enhancing the production cycle similar to the development of modern methods of production. Plus, the new income in the communities is often used to send children to schools in town thus giving them a better chance for the future. And in the future they will likely stay in towns, not in the villages of their parents.

This is certainly not a bad thing. All people deserve a chance for a better, more comfortable future. We should not hope that they will keep living their traditional (and harsh) lifestyle just because we find it interesting and picturesque.

I simply find it ironic how an attempt to revive the tradition has lead to progress along the same lines as in the western civilization. Of course it will be long, very long, before the lifestyle of indigenous people around Sucre even approaches the quality of life of city dwellers. I hope that the beautiful weavings will somehow find their place in the new reality. Hopefully traditional artisanat will remain in demand and become a profitable occupation…

New pictures uploaded

Enjoy beautiful Sucre.

To view the pictures in the correct order, please click on "View My Gallery" under the thumbnails, select the desired album and click on the first picture.

Trip monthly update

August 9 2011 – September 8 2011

Summary of the tenth month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 3

Number of flights taken: 0 (the first, and possibly the only month without flights!)

Number of posts added to our blog: 20

Number of marital conflicts: 0 (we've been angels this month:)

Best overnight stay: Marc wouldn't forgive me if I didn't give the prize to our hostel in Sucre, Bolivia. He loves this place. It's a simple bed and breakfast according to western standards but believe me, it feels like the ultimate luxury after weeks of cold and austere accommodation. So clean, so warm, and so solid. Should I also mention that I can take a hot shower in my own bathroom whenever it pleases me?

Worst overnight stay: T night we spent at Laguna Colorada on the trip from San Pedro in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia. It was the coldest night I have ever experienced; the temperature was minus fifteen outside and there was no heating in our dorm. Thank God the view of Laguna Colorada was totally worth it!

Best Call we made: Departing from the original plan and staying longer in Bolivia. Originally, we planned between 7 and 10 days for the whole country. But we fell in love with Bolivian landscapes, towns and villages and now it looks like we will stay here at least a month. Unfortunately this means that we will spend much less time in Peru. I guess it is better to see everything we want to see in Bolivia than do a half-ass job in both countries.

Worst Call we made: While on the road trip around Salta, we decided to visit a lake that was at some distance from the main road. We took the shortest path to minimize the number of kilometers spent on the unsealed road. Well, it may have been the shortest way but certainly not the fastest. After a few kilometers the road turned into a not too clearly defined track. We drove 25 km in two hours and got lost once. We finally decided that no lake in the world was worth passing half a day on a terrible road and risking wrecking our car. We headed back to the main road. By this time it was already too late to visit anything else. Needless to say, we found out that there was a perfectly good road leading directly to the lake.